1. Field
The following description relates to a software based wireless terminal, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for reconfiguring software in enabling a new wireless communication service in a software-defined radio (SDR) terminal.
2. Description of the Related Art
Most existing multi-mode wireless communication devices are configured with application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) devices which are implemented according to different wireless communication standards.
However, this conventional arrangement has disadvantages as the devices are large in size, have high power consumption and low adaptability. As an alternative to this conventional arrangement, software-defined radio (SDR) devices have been introduced.
SDR technology allows various types of wireless communication services employing different devices to be integrated with one another by only changing the software of the devices. That is, SDR devices use pieces of reconfigurable hardware so that the reconfigurable hardware can function as wireless communication devices with different functionalities. For example, an SDR transmission/receipt apparatus may be configured to function as a high speed downlink packet access (HSDPA) apparatus by installation of a first given piece of software, and function as a mobile WiMAX apparatus by installation of a second given piece of software.
To this end, an SDR apparatus includes reconfigurable elements such as a general purpose microprocessor (GPP), a digital signal processor (DSP) and a field programmable gate array (FPGA). The wireless communication apparatus is programmed to function as a particular wireless communication apparatus by placing and installing programs on the reconfigurable elements and then by starting the programs. However, even for the SDR apparatus, it takes significant time to allocate and install programs on the reconfigurable elements.
For example, an SDR terminal apparatus including reconfigurable elements such as GPP, DSP and FPGA takes several tens of seconds to install and initiate an HSDPA program of several megabytes on the reconfigurable element and initiate a service. Therefore, reduction of time for initiating a new wireless communication service on the SDR terminal apparatus is required.